“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Pray with me:

Sometimes we don’t feel like preaching. Sometimes the news is anything but good. Sometimes nothing but corrupting talk wants to spill out of my mouth. Yet as a preacher, I preach and my task is to set what is wrong with the world in-light-of the faith that we have in Jesus the Christ. That anything I say, as the writer of Ephesians says “may give grace to those who hear.”

But today I’m not feeling it!

If I had to preach in a congregation in the United States this morning, I would be preaching with a heavy heart, with anger and sadness. By now everyone in the world has seen the election of a man that has:

bashed immigrants,

disrespected women,

threatened to build a wall

and bragged about what he can do to women.

The US has elected a man who has fed into many Americans worst fears: fear of having a black man in the “white house,” fear of increased diversity in the US, fear of an America that is different than it was 50 years ago. He has said, that he will make “America Great Again.”

And that makes me angry!

For those of us who have ancestors stolen from the shores of Africa, enslaved and treated in justly from the founding of the United States, I wonder just who America has been great for. Yes, I am proud to be an American when America is at its best, but now?

………………………………….

As an American descendent from Africans this election makes me sad and worried. I am not worried about myself, I can in my travels get away from all the prejudice that has risen -up in the US. I worry for my dark brown son and all the little brown boys like my grandson. I worry because they may be in places in their own country and still be treated as though they don’t belong. I worry about women and little girls.

I also worry about all those who I encounter around the world who voiced their fear as soon as the newly elected person came on the scene. They thought that his throwing his hat in the ring to be president was a joke.

Now the joke is on all of us!

As a preacher, I preach and my task is to set what is wrong with the world in-light-of the faith that we have in Jesus the Christ. That anything I say, as the writer of Ephesians says “may give grace to those who hear.”

But this stinks.

I cry out is there a word from the Lord? While I wonder, how this will affect those who travel as US citizens? Will other countries close their doors? What does this mean for all the people I have come to love on this amazing continent of Africa? Will this election make it even harder for black and brown people to travel to the U.S.? What does this mean for you my friends?

I ask because we all know that what happens in the United States affects the world. How I wish it weren’t so, but it is!

Even so, as a preacher, I preach and my task is to set what is wrong with the world in-light- of the faith that we have in Jesus the Christ. That anything I say may give grace to those who hear.

I am not doing so good this morning. The law is holding sway at this moment, because to me this situation really – leaves a bad taste in our mouths and a foul smell in the air. In the African American community, we have become used to foul smells. The smell of gunfire on the streets as a black or brown male child lays dying.

The smell of decay as communities suffer from the greed of corporations, the prejudices of people, corruption and malice just because we are the countries darker citizens, and our lives don’t matter to some. I know the smell of flowing tears as parents and grandparents suffered injustices at the hands of others, for just wanting to do better.

And I have even experienced the smell of death as a child because the neighbors didn’t like the brown people moved in next door and killed our pet. I am afraid that recent events and especially this election may have set the U.S. back to such a time. A time when hurt anger and fear were always right at the surface – back over 50 years.

This makes my heart heavy and has me feeling ill and I hear the words of the writer of Ephesians that tell me despite how we feel and what we are going through

We are to be kind to one another, to forgive, to be like God, to walk in love. Because perfect love casts out fear . . .

I know the writer of Ephesians isn’t necessarily talking about the preaching task; he is talking about the new life that we live in Christ; he is taking about words that come from our months; he is talking about our better nature made possible through Jesus the Christ.

With the recent events in my country I don’t want to preach, what wants to come from my mouth is a loud scream.

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Then I remember, I am descendent from a people who despite the hurt, anger and fear they experience time after time in the history of the United States have devised a mechanism to cope. Through it all Black American preachers developed a style and a way of preaching that sustains the weary with the Word. Preachers like my grandfather knew how to encourage a congregation after they had been beaten, treated badly and attacked as they protested for equal rights. He used poetry, rhetoric and song,

But I am not my grandfather and it’s hard right now. So, I am looking for a word… a word that isn’t dependent on my actions, a word that doesn’t expect me to get it right when I can’t – a word that isn’t dependent on how I feel – good or bad.

I know, as a preacher, I preach and my task is to set what is wrong with the world in-light-of the faith that we have in Jesus the Christ. That anything I say may give grace to those who hear.

Yet I don’t know if I can. I suppose this may have been the way you felt in the middle of the Ebola crisis, afraid, cautious, angry at the injustice of it all. I can imagine that your pain was ten thousand times worse than how I feel right now.

I can imagine you wondering when it would be over and what would happen afterwards . . . And yet Sunday after Sunday you were called to stand and preach, a word – a word of grace, a word of hope, a word of love. I can only imagine what strength, what dedication, what love that took. And yet you did!

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When there are trials, and hardships, sickness and death we – who are called to preach have a task: that is to set whatever is wrong in our time, whatever is wrong in our place, whatever is wrong in our situation-in-light-of the faith that we have in Jesus Christ. “That what we say may give grace to those who hear.”

And preachers, the only way I know how to do that is through the word. Not through what I think, but through the word made flesh, through the words that point to hope and love, through the words of scripture.

………………………………………………………………

And reading to the end of the lectionary text for today I found that word. The word that is beginning to lift me from the depths of my despair at what has happened in my country-a word that calms my doubts and soothes my fears. I found that word that encourages me and keeps me going. Preachers I found that word that helps me remember that God can make a way out of no way; I found that word bishop that gives me joy deep down in my soul; I found that word that has the power to pick me up turn me around and place my fight on solid ground.

I found that word right in the fifth chapter of Ephesians

That word is: “. . . Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Did you hear that Jesus is described as a fragrant offering?

A sweet-smelling gift like perfume

a fragrance that is pleasant to the senses

Jesus — a fragrance so sweet that the stench of disease cannot overcome it

Jesus — a fragrance so powerful that principalities and powers

Election results and uncertainty cannot whisk it away

Jesus a fragrance so lovely that it gets in our nostrils and gives us the ability to keep on keeping on

Jesus, a fragrance my brothers and sisters that covered up the stink of death

Jesus, a fragrance that permeates the air even after three days as he rose from the grave

Jesus is a fragrant offering that stays with us, in and out of season

Jesus is a fragrance that floats in the air as love!

Yes, people of God, I am hurt, angry and disappointed because of all that I have heard in the news about the elections in my country this last week, I don’t know what is going to happen! Yet, I am a preacher, and as I preach my task is to set what is wrong with the world in-light- of the faith that we have in Jesus the Christ.“That it may give grace to those who hear.” And I need God to help me!

So, whenever I stand to preach, whenever you stand and preach whether the situation is pleasant or brings out feelings of anger, hurt or despair, take a deep breath and pray that you may draw in a whiff of that sweet, sweet fragrance – Jesus the Christ and give them grace!